i just wish more eng and pak players played the ipl, think it'd be a bit easier to calibrate thoughts then.

off all the teams i think will go further, id probably say i was most worried about india due to their bowling but i was worried about india's world cup bowling but the batting just powered them just far enough in front.

but those you mention lix did seem to go ok.   Always remember chaminder doing ok in sri lanka , (also seems to destroy glammy too ) so left arm swingers zak and i.pathan might be ok.  The other pathan got smashed a few times but with other bowling options in raina / kholi and jadeja with ashwin have quite a few overs covered.

i think iv changed sides about 10 times now making cases for each team the more i think about it. 

Interesting with Yadav, he really should be given games in the T20 side though I recall he went for a lot of runs in a pretty successful spell in the test side.

His economy was brilliant in the IPL though and he took plenty of wickets and has rare Indian genuine pace.  He must be played from their next T20 game onwards in my view

exchange has 8.8 to lay, a decent Arb that

Daniel Vettori has declared he will come out of Twenty20 international retirement and has made himself available for the ICC World T20 in Sri Lanka later this year. Vettori has not played a T20 international in more than two years and retired from the format in March 2011, although he continued to play T20 domestically at home and overseas.

At the time, Vettori said he was taking a break from one-day internationals but might return, although he said he had definitely played his last T20 international. His change of heart has come with the World T20 only three months away, and one of the major attractions is that it will be played in spin-friendly conditions in Sri Lanka.

"Dan was the number one ranked Twenty20 bowler in 2009 and is widely regarded as one of the best Twenty20 exponents in world cricket," David White, the New Zealand Cricket chief executive said. "His availability is a real boost for the Black Caps with his style of bowling well suited to conditions in Sri Lanka."

Vettori has played 28 T20 internationals, the last of which came against Sri Lanka in Florida in May 2010. He has competed in all three ICC World T20 tournaments so far, and is seventh on the all-time wicket tally in World T20s, with Shahid Afridi and Saeed Ajmal the only spinners to have taken more wickets than his 18 at 16.05

"Twenty20 is a format Dan enjoys and the opportunity to be part of a team which competes at a world event is enticing for him," Kim Littlejohn, the NZC national selection manager said. "He has been encouraged by his team-mates, coaching staff and others at NZC and we are thrilled to have him in the mix. He will offer a lot to the side."

New Zealand's preliminary squad for the World T20 will be named on July 18. The tournament begins on September 18 and New Zealand have been drawn in a group with Pakistan and Bangladesh.

groups...

a..eng...ind...afgan
b..aus...w.i...ireland
c..sl....s.a...zim
d..pak...nz....ban

super 8's.  2 groups.

a1 v b2..... a2 v b1
a1 v d2..... a2 v d1
a1 v c1..... a2 v c2

b1 v a2..... b2 v a1
b1 v c2..... b2 v c1
b1 v d1..... b2 v d2

c1 v d2..... c2 v d1
c1 v b2..... c2 v b1
c1 v a1..... c2 v a2

d1 v c2..... d2 v c1
d1 v a2..... d2 v c1
d1 v b1..... d2 v b2

super8 a1  v super8 b2
super8 b1  v super8 a2

final.

a1
b2
c1
d2

a2
b1
c2
d1

was easier to see when it was all written down. 

Narine may get on fairly well on the Sri Lankan pitches but I wouldn't fancy him to be top bowler.

The curly haired one they decided to make the tournament logo is the man to beat and I don't see anyone beating him.

no brett lee... retires from international cricket

http://www.espncricinfo.com/australia/content/current/story/572180.html

karman akmal back for pak t20's v aus + wt20

Been saying they should recall Kakmal for a while now. good move. His batting is fine in Asia. Decent player when he's er.. trying. Gives them a keeper who can score boundaries down the order unlike the hopeless Adnan who could barely knock the froth off a capuccino

Razzaq and Imran Nazir also good news

Hafeez
Nazir
Akmal
Shafiq
Malik
Umar
Afridi
Razzaq
Gul
Ajmal
Tanvir/Sami

Strongest bowling in the comp that. 4 good spin overs with Afridi/Hafeez/Ajmal  2 good seamers in Tanvir and Gul and decent support bowling in Razzaq and Malik if needed. Nazir also an excellent fielder. I think this team batters Aus/SA on any pitch with any turn in it.

you still red on england? 

7/1 is very big on the world champs. Only side guaranteed to be in the super 8s too..

indian wt20 preliminary squad.

MS Dhoni, Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, Suresh Raina, R Ashwin, Pragyan Ojha, Umesh Yadav, Ashok Dinda, Ajinkya Rahane, Manoj Tiwary, Rahul Sharma, Vinay Kumar, Zaheer Khan, Yuvraj Singh, Robin Uthappa, Irfan Pathan, Yusuf Pathan, Mandeep Singh, Piyush Chawla, Ravindra Jadeja, Shikhar Dhawan, Ambati Rayudu, Harbhajan Singh, Munaf Patel, Naman Ojha, Dinesh Karthik, Praveen Kumar, L Balaji

yuvraj singh in the 30, along with madeep singh (k11punjab) and Rayudu (mi) the only 2 uncapped players.

no kp in eng squad of 30

very happy for my book,  sad for cricket.

http://www.espncricinfo.com/world-twenty20-2012/content/current/story/572899.html

the red next to england doesnt look as worrying today tho.

  wouldnt mind that lix.   as long as windies end up in zim super 8's along with nz and afgan. 

india's game with the afgans rained off would be amusing.  Didnt england need the rain to stop in the last wt20 v ireland or they were gone?

arh ok, mem not what it use to be.  Thought i just remembered thinking / hearing a washout meant england might have been out.

i think the weather could do some damage, tho have they got some reserve days for this major comp?

bangladesh go down by 34 runs to scotland in the t20

Pietersen clings to Twenty20 hope.

The next significant date in the current dispute between Kevin Pietersen and the ECB is looming on Saturday with the deadline for England to name their World Twenty20 squad. 

mmmnnnnnn whats everyones thinking now?

pak 2nd biggest winners behind da windies mannnnnn.  Have managed to watch a few spl games and was quite pleased with the akmal bro's among others doing well.  Not much change in their outright tho lix.